2 Whole Days of Rain were glorious.

We were sitting in Church on a sunny Sunday morning. I dropped my one little fellow to his second grade Sunday school class and the bluejay was chirping that a storm was approaching. We couldn't see the clouds on the horizon. While in class the windows grew darker and darker and then, the downpour. Surprising, but not really. We knew that there were dark clouds coming, but, they were bringing the much needed torrents more swiftly than we are used to down here.
It took some getting used to to enjoy the sparse showers that were our weather pattern when we moved down here. A shower in this or that place and then the sun would come back to burn us. After that there was a drought and we had to pray for even a drop of rain because the reservoirs were getting dryer and dryer. I prayed and everyone did.
Lord, I want rain and I want cooler weather, if I am going to have to be here, without my family, at least send me more rain. I remembered my prayer, in my Sunday school class, as the clouds loomed lower and lower and then burst on the ground with a thud. At first, it was scary. Then, I remembered that God is my friend and my redeemer. When we got out of Sunday school the first downpour had stopped and God gave us a small glimmer, so that I could get to the car, without an umbrella and not get my purple dress wet. But, before the teenagers got to the car, the rains came again. They like getting wet. Enoch said, we are going to get pneumonia. No, you are stronger than that. A small downpour is not going to give you pneumonia. My peartree didn't like the downpour and she may not make it through the winter, by the looks of her. My weeping cherry tree, that I call Diva is accomodating my neglect and loved the rain and my brown eyed susans popped back to life from the wonderful 2 days of rain that enveloped our region. My pretty purple dress stayed in tact and didn't get a drop on it, but my teenagers were soaked{just like I like them}. Go figure?

I had a delightful lunch with my second grader.

The excitement of 2 teeth missing and a recent birthday and whether or not its okay to have girlfriends in the second grade. The blessing of looking into the eyes of the future and knowing that he has everything ahead of him. The stressers of a bully on the bus, and or the naughtiness that creeps into his mind that he acts on, like tying his shoes together in AIG class. All of these interests and concerns of his are mine at this age. I linger at the table because this is the last time that my child will be interested in 2nd grade interests. It is a delight for me to enter into that thought for just a moment. I carried a piece of fruit to mark the occasion. He would not eat it.
I had forgotten to introduce fruit to this dearest of second graders to me. Now it is a hard task to get him to bite the peach. I don't like hairy stuff in my mouth, he said. I got 2 or 3 bites into him. I am going to miss being six years old and seven. "Now we must grow up"

Whose Birthday is it?

7 years ago, the baby, baby was born. We celebrated in style and all of the sisters and brothers participated in the beauty of joy and comradery. It was a beautiful sight to see. Sweet baby Ezra is 7 years old!

The eyes of my children, a new generation are on us...

It is time to wake up, smell the coffee and turn our children's eyes upon Jesus. Jesus is able to take us into the new generation with direction and hope. Direction to do and be good and hope to expect great things from God. Our griefs are past and remembered with the sympathies of our loving Saviour, but, now it is time to work while it is day.

Children, indeed are a heritage of the Lord...

They give us purpose and direction in our lives.

9 Years ago today-{A Prayer}

We need the grace that only You can give, Lord. We need the healing, that only You can do, Lord. We pray and beseech You to grow us in maturity, kindness, unity, strength and peace. We pray that You would teach us how to work together and live together with respect and honor. Help, Lord, that You would help us honor You and honor the remembrances of our broken hearts and broken skyline. We pray for the hearts and minds of past Presidents and President Obama, and those who were in public offices on that ominous day. We pray for the hearts and minds of the Firefighters and officers who are left with the remembrances of lost comrades and falling debris. The families and relatives of our lost loved ones in the Towers and plane crashes and the country as a whole, help us Lord to grieve in growth and not in deterioration. Help us to pick up the pieces of our hearts that are left and run with courage, that only You can provide. Help us, Lord to see You healing us and growing us, building and shaping us through the pain that we have endured and You have allowed, in our lives.
We trust that, as we live and work and grow, under God, in our country, that You would lend Your hand of grace and mercy upon us. We are shut up to You for help and wholeness, as never before. We love You and trust Your care for us and our children. Help us, Lord, to give and to teach our children the lessons from this momentous and heartwrenching day, that will build greater peace and safety for the future generations. Raise up a Holy Spirit standard against the forces of the enemy that would tear down and act out to get their own ways, wherever they may hide. Give us the clear direction to live in the light of Your purposes for us as a nation and a world in these days. More than all, be glorified in our remembrances and do not leave us to our own anxieties and griefs that would dishonor You by accusing Your goodness, because of our pain. Glorify Your Name, ultimately in these and all things. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.

It is 64 degrees this morning.

What a chill, but how beautiful to feel this coolness when we know it will be near 90 later on in the day. I am ready to make love to my family by cleaning my carpets. I've missed 2 whole weeks on my floors and they are talking to me. I turn on Patti Labelle, or Celine Dion and clear and clean to my hearts content. It is wonderful to feel that they may not know that this is my love for them, but it is.
It seems that my vacuum is on the "fritz" again. So, it may take me a while to get to the floors while I defrag my vac. (so to speak). When will they make a vacuum that can survive the exploits of a bustling and busy bunch of "Walkers" like we are. I tell them again and again, don't use my vacuum without supervision, but inevitably somebody must try to pick something up, that wasn't meant for a vac and poof- it's gone! "Another one bites the dust!" This one is named "Old Blue, the good dog". Love is a many splendored thing

The chill of September, has come upon us.

This was an old picture Ben gleaned from his trip up north{1986-before we were parents}Still pressing on, by God's grace 27 years later.




Now here we are in 2010 ;)

Ben is home from the North country. The funeral was very sad, I hear. But, the family enjoyed gathering together, in NJ. He is back now with the news from the broader Walker family. We sat around and listened to his tales of the trip and then it was time for mommy to go to bed.
I have grown my first season of okra and they are a wonder to watch and eat. I never ate okra, before my father-in-law introduced me to this winsome and delicate vegetable. Now, I delight to go outside and pluck 5 or 6 off the plants and put them in (sneak them in) some goulash or other. I like the taste and I think it staves off the seasonal colds. Yesterday there was a green grasshopper pretending to be an okra and he almost got tossed into the goulash, except that he winked at me to let me know that he had eyes. My okra has no eyes, that I do know. He was exactly the color of my okra. I have about 10 or 12 still coming off the plants, and then I think that the season will be over. I am not sure, though.
My okra patch is very small, but the children tease me and say, do you want me to go out into the fields and pick some okra for dinner. They call me the plantation slave driver. I guess I am, too.
As an aside, but still on the subject of the slave driver. I got to be the boss at church, since Ben was in the "Northlands". I milked it for all it was worth. I looked at them after service and said, if you guys are not at the car, when I get there, I am leaving you.(Who does that sound like--{shame on me}) Well, for the first time ever, the children were all in the car, when I got there after Sunday school. They know that I am fearful of driving "Fretful carriage" more than just around the corner, so they humored my tyrannical commands. Next week they can socialize when their Dad is doing the driving. But, it haunts me so, that I sound like my Dad.
The cool, low 80's are a welcome temperature, these back to school days. We had to wear sleeves, to church. I hope that you are having a happy holiday weekend.

Getting ready to travel north.

We all can't go to the funeral. But, safe travels to my honey, who will be travelling north with the brothers for, yet another funeral.
My daddy always said these days would come. He said, if I were you, I would have a bank account just for the travel to the funerals. That is a huge amount of people to be responsible for, to marry into that large of a family. I said, Dad, you are so morbid. It was true. You need an entire budget, to travel for these sad occasions. I wanted to go, but, I want to remember her the way she was, alive and vibrant. I really don't want people to see me, this paranoid and anxious as I have become, in my old age, either. I will pray for the safe travels of my beloved ones. Nearly 30 years of loving and entering into commitments of love, in family have benefits and drawbacks. It is hard to say goodbye to the ones who pass along. I know that, in Christ we celebrate the hope of Glory, still, I cry.
Safe travels, honey.